Run for Your Wife – review

Saturday 16 February 2013 19.05 EST
First published on Saturday 16 February 2013 19.05 EST

Classic farces of the Feydeau, Aldwych and Whitehall kind have rarely worked in the cinema, and this widely performed stage play by Ray Cooney is no exception. The plot turns upon a bigamous London taxi driver (Danny Dyer) and accidental "have-a-go" hero having to explain his irregular lifestyle to the press, the police and the two wives. What we admire in great farce is the ingenuity and precision of the writing, the speed and virtuosity of the playing and the conviction that something serious is at stake for the characters. Run for Your Wife fulfils none of these conditions and is woefully dated in its misogyny and homophobia. Three-quarters of the British acting profession over the age of 60, all of them old chums of the author, appear in walk-on roles so we're constantly distracted by working out who's playing the bag lady (Judi Dench), the buskers (Rolf Harris, Cliff Richard, Barry Cryer) or the bus driver (Robin Askwith).